1 of 3 | Leaders of Sinn Fein (official opposition leader Mary Lou McDonald center) will not travel to the White House to participate in St. Patrick’s Day festivities in Washington, D.C. next month, the left-wing political party in Ireland and Northern Ireland said Friday. File Photo by Aidan Crawley-EPA/EFE
Leaders of Sinn Fein will not travel to the White House to participate in St. Patrick’s Day festivities in Washington, D.C. next month, the left-wing political party in Ireland and Northern Ireland said Friday.
The leader of Ireland’s official opposition Mary Lou McDonald and Northern Ireland First Minister Michelle O’Neill said in a joint statement the party is boycotting any U.S. visits over President Donald Trump’s comments about removing Palestinians from Gaza. Advertisement
Trump earlier this month suggested the United States could own the Palestinian enclave and later suggested Palestinians living in Gaza would have no right to return to their homes.
“I have taken the decision as First Minister not to attend events at the White House this year. The decision not to travel to the White House has not been taken lightly, but it is taken conscious of the responsibility each of us as individuals have to call out injustice,” O’Neill, who was elected last year, said in the statement. Advertisement
“We are all heartbroken as we witness the suffering of the Palestinian people and the recent comments of the US President around the mass expulsion of the Palestinian people from Gaza, something I cannot ignore.”
Sinn Fein has regularly attended the White House St. Patrick’s Day festivities since the Clinton administration, with the exception of 2005 when then-president George W. Bush did not invite Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams over ceasefire violations committed by the Irish Republican Army.
“The ties between Ireland and the United States are historic and run deep. There are deep bonds between Sinn Féin and people in the United States who supported peace and prosperity in Ireland,” McDonald, who was first elected in 2004 and has served as leader of the opposition since 2020, said in the party’s statement.
“But there is also an onus on us to speak honestly and to act when we believe a US administration is wrong, catastrophically so in the case of Palestine. I have thought deeply about this issue in recent days and listened to many voices inside and outside of Sinn Féin. I have made the decision not to attend the event in the White House this year as a principled stance against the call for the mass expulsion of the Palestinian people from Gaza, something which I believe demands serious dissent and objection.” Advertisement
Other politicians were quick to criticize the two.
The leader of Northern Ireland’s right-leaning Democratic Unionist Party, Gavin Robinson, called the move “reckless,” adding “the DUP will be represented in DC for St Patrick’s events.”
Ireland’s Prime Minister or Taoiseach Micheál Martin accused O’Neill and McDonald of playing politics.
“First of all, Sinn Féin does what it always does – it engages in politics. I have a responsibility to the country. Indeed, earlier this week we had a meeting with our European colleagues convened by President (Emmanuel) Macron with Canada, with Norway and with Iceland,” Martin, who was elected last month, told reporters on Friday.
“The very clear message there was the need – not only to continue with – but to double-down on engagement with the US administration both politically and with the president.”
